A tiny portion of the arrests along the 16th Street Mall last year were for violent crimes. Mostly, people were picked up for shoplifting, public intoxication, smoking marijuana, panhandling, trespassing, urinating or spitting.
Less than 5 percent of arrests were for aggressive or hostile crimes, including assaults, possession of weapons or making threats. A significant number of arrests were for crimes considered by some advocacy groups as “homeless crimes,” mainly begging, panhandling and trespassing for sleeping or loitering in outlawed areas.
Most criminal activity on the mall is related to “quality-of-life issues,” not violence, contrary to what some people might think, said Tami Door, president of the Downtown Denver Partnership.
“There is a real misperception,” she said. “I think people are surprised to find out what actually happens.”
District 6 — which includes the 16th Street Mall, Civic Center and Lower Downtown — had more arrests than any of the other five police districts in the city in 2014. And for the first time since the district was created, according to police records, there were no homicides.
Denver police Cmdr. Tony Lopez credits not only police work but the lifesaving efforts of paramedics and emergency rooms at Denver Health and other hospitals.
However, 2015 is not off to a good start in comparison with last year, with two homicides so far in District 6.
The majority of arrests on the 16th Street Mall happened from 1-9 p.m., partly because of strong police presence on bicycles, motorcycles and Segways in the afternoons and evenings. One-fifth of people arrested on the mall were arrested there more than once.
“There are a number of people that we know by sight,” Lopez said. “The officers that work in the area, they get to know the people that we most often interact with and cause the most number of headaches.”
